by Bernal Diaz to have been the name of the principal
chief of the eight provinces or tribes, who together opposed the
Spaniards. For this reason I would reject the derivation from the
Nahuatl, proposed by Rovirosa,--_tlalli_, earth, _paltic_, wet or
swampy, _co_, in,[6-2]--however appropriate it would be geographically;
and also that from the Maya, _tazcoob_, "deceived," referring to the
deceptions practiced on the Spaniards,--which is defended by Orozco y
Berra[6-3]; and I should accept that which I find suggested by Dr.
Berendt in his manuscript work on Mayan geographical names. He reads
_Tabasco_ as a slightly corrupt form of the Maya _T'ah-uaxac-coh_, "our
(or the) master of the eight lions," referring to the eight districts or
gentes of the tribe. This is significant and appropriate, the jaguar,
the American lion, being a very common emblem in the ruins of Cintla.

The branch of the Mayan stock which occupied the litoral of the province
of Tabasco at that time were those later known as the Tzentals
(otherwise spelled Zendal or Tzeltal). By some writers they have been
called the Chontals of Tobasco, _chontal_, as is well known, being
merely a common noun in Nahuatl to express foreigners or barbarians.
Their identity with the modern Tzentals of Chiбpas has been established
by the researches of Dr. Berendt.

The Tzental is a dialect closely akin to pure Maya, though it was
believed by Dr. Berendt to present nearer relations than the Maya proper
to the dialect of the Huastecas, a segregated idiom of the Mayan family,
spoken near Tampico.

_The Locality._--Until M. Dйsirй Charnay brought out the results of the
Lorillard expedition in his handsome work, "The Ancient Cities of the
New World,"[6-4] no one, so far as I know, had expressed any doubt that
Cintla was situated near the mouth of the great river, the Rio de
Tabasco, formed by the confluence of the Usumacinta and the Rio de
Grijalva, and emptying into the bay of Campeche, 18° 35', north
latitude.

M. Charnay did not visit the ruins of Cintla nor the site of Potonchan,
which I am about to describe; but he did make an examination of the
ruins of Comalcalco, about thirty miles west of Cintla; and as they are
of notable magnitude, he proceeds to argue that they represent the
ancient Cintla, of the victory of Cortes.

The arguments on which he founds this contention may be briefly stated.
They are that the accounts refer to two entrances to the river (_dos
bocas_) while the Tabasco has but one; that the bar of Tabasco now
admits vessels of 300 tons, whereas Cortes speaks of it as too shallow
for his caravels; that Herrera says Cortes retired to a small island,
whereas there is none in the Rio de Tabasco; that Herrera further speaks
of a ford by which the soldiers of Cortes "crossed the river," which
would have been impossible in the Tabasco; and finally that the same
writer mentions cacao plantations, though at present none exist near
Frontera. For these reasons he thinks both Grijalva and Cortes entered
the embouchure now known as the Barra de Dos Bocas, some twenty-five
miles west of the mouth of the Rio de Tabasco.

A slight examination dissipates these objections. Both Grijalva and
Cortes note the powerful current of the Rio de Tabasco, carrying fresh
water six miles out to sea, as is observed to-day,[7-1] and this is not
in the least applicable to the insignificant stream flowing out of the
Dos Bocas. M. Charnay was misinformed when he stated there is no island
at the mouth of the Rio de Tabasco. There are in fact two, one, long and
narrow, known as the Isla de Grijalva, the other quite small, close to
the plantation of Dolores (see the map). The latter was probably that to
which Cortes retired. None of the accounts say that the soldiers "forded
the river," but only the short distance between the island and the
mainland. These islands give to the entrance of the river the appearance
of two embouchures or